Wednesday, January 31, 2007

If you've ever seen the bizarre "Body Language" segments on The O'Reilly Factor, then surely your eyes hurt from rolling as much as mine.

If you haven't seen it, Bill-O and an "expert" "analyze" the body language in news footage. Now I believe body language is as scientifically legitimate as chiropractics; however, both can be practiced by knuckleheads. When the analysis is almost always harder on Democrats than Republicans, my knucklehead meter goes into the red zone.

But last night they outdid themselves while scrutinizing, among other things, the State of the Union Address. They noted that Barack Obama was looking down throughout the speech: "He's not holding his head up, which would be boredom. He's thinking about what was being said." Also his holding his finger to the side of his head was a "contemplative gesture."

Next to Obama was Ted Kennedy, also looking down, but holding his hand to his ear ("evaluative") then adjusting his glasses, then holding his hand to the side of his head ("an imaginary headache... an overwhelming feeling he's not feeling like he's enjoying this now").

Unfortunately, eyewitnesses report that both men were, in fact, just reading along with the speech.

This is apparent to anyone who watches the footage. (One tip-off, aside from the glasses adjustment? Senator Kennedy's scrutinized hand was holding a pen!) Both men supported their heads from time to time as does anyone reading for a long time.

On the other hand, John McCain"s looking down? "He's actually awake, just looking down, perhaps looking at his notes." To O'Reilly's credit, he didn't buy this at all, but the "expert" persisted, noting that he was moving his head and mouth.

Yeah, you're right. No one who nods off ever moves his head and mouth. I leave it to you to watch the clip and decide for yourself if this is anything from ZZZZZZ.